Re: Battery load testers

["Chuck Hursch" <chursch@yahoo.com>]

Rob, I find that the big oval and round locomotive railroad
resistors are the best way to go.  Chain 'em together to build
the total resistor to match your pack and the amp draw you want
to take out.  The only way to really find out how your pack will
do in terms of range is to see how long it will last with a given
current drain.  I think it was the C&H catalog where we got the
three resistors for my 96V pack of 235A-hrs.  The idea would be
to test that pack to see if it matches the Trojan T125 6V spec of
75A for 125 minutes, looking for batteries that quit early.
These resistors and some cabling are probably cheaper than
anything you have mentioned below.

Chuck Hursch
Larkspur, CA

----- Original Message -----
From: Rob <westco@jps.net>
To: <ev@listproc.sjsu.edu>
Sent: Friday, May 31, 2002 11:48 AM
Subject: Battery load testers


>
> I am relative new to battery science, but it had become my
focus for the
> last several months (trying to find a battery compatible with
my car's
> equalizing phase or modify the Saft charger).  I have
accumualted a 4"
> binder of battery information and talked with some "experts"
(if there
> really are any..its an odd "science").
>
> Now I am looking for a battery load tester to monitor the six
12-volt
> batteries in my Bombardier. I would like to be able to evaluate
the
> batteries, diagnose battery problems and identify weak
batteries in the
> string.  After doing some reading, it appears that the
conductance meters
> made by Midtronics were easier to use and more accurate than a
standard load
> tester (I think).  So I began to check out a PBT-100 ($109) and
a Micro 400
> ($349) testers, rather than buy a simple Electronic
Specialities Digital 120
> AMP Battery Load tester ($45).
>
> Someone out there must know a lot more about battery load
testers.  I would
> appreciate any advice.
>
> Rob
>
>